Hearts apologise to former player Isma Goncalves after racial abuse claims

EDINBURGH, Scotland -- Scottish football club Hearts have apologised to former player Isma Goncalves after he said racial abuse forced him to leave.

The Portuguese forward, who is black, joined Uzbekistan club Pakhtakor Tashkent last month after a year in Edinburgh.

Goncalves is now quoted as telling the Edinburgh Evening News newspaper that "there were some people making racist comments to me in the stadium and my family did not feel OK about this."

Hearts say they will be contacting Goncalves "to apologise to him and his family on behalf of the thousands of supporters who share our anger and disappointment that they were subjected to this behavior."

Hearts added that they were unaware Goncalves had faced abuse at the time, but plans procedures to make it easier for discrimination to be reported.